Pneumatic actuators are low-cost, safe, clean, and exhibit a high power to weight ratio. In this thesis a novel servo pneumatic system based on miniature cylinders is presented. The first cylinder investigated has a 9.5 mm bore size. Four low-cost 2-way proportional valves are incorporated to provide greater design flexibility than the traditional single 4-way servo valve solution. A nonlinear system model is developed and validated using open-loop experiments. The use of bipolynomial functions to model the valve flow rates is shown to provide a more accurate solution than the commonly used nozzle flow equations. Two multiple-input single-output nonlinear position controllers are designed using the inverse dynamics and backstepping method respectively. In addition to position control, the control designs allow a second control objective to be implemented. In the inverse dynamics controller, the chamber pressures are controlled in inner loops and the position is controlled in an outer loop. In the backstepping controller, the stability analysis includes the effects of friction modeling error and valve modeling error. In experiments with a 1.5 kg moving mass, the inverse dynamics controller produced SSE within ±0.08mm and the backstepping controller ±0.05mm. The two control laws produced maximum tracking errors of ±0.5 mm and ±0.3mm for a 1 Hz sine wave trajectory respectively. The tracking errors are shown to be 85% less than those produced by a linear controller. Experiments demonstrate that the two controllers are robust to the system operating in horizontal and vertical orientations. They are also robust to an increase of payload but not to a decrease of payload. This problem can be overcome by tuning the controller parameters for the smallest payload. The two controllers are further tested with miniature cylinders with different bore diameters and stroke lengths. The smallest cylinder tested has a 4 mm bore diameter. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

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This thesis documents the development of a novel nonlinear controller for servo pneumatic actuators that give good reference tracking at low speed motion, where friction has strong effect to the system behaviors. The design of the nonlinear controller presented in this thesis is based on the formalism of Lyapunov stability theory. The controller is constructed through a dynamical adaptive backstepping-sliding mode control algorithm. The conventional Lyapunov-based control algorithm is often limited by the order of the dynamical system; however, the backstepping design concept allows the control algorithm to be extended to higher order dynamical systems. In addition, the friction is estimated on-line via the Lyapunov-based adaptive laws embedded in the controller; meanwhile, the sliding mode control provides high robustness to the system parameter uncertainties. The simulation results clearly demonstrating the improved system performance (i.e., fast response and the reduced tracking error) are presented. Finally, the integration of the controller with a Lyapunov-based pressure observer reduces the state feedback of the servo pneumatic actuator model to only the piston displacement.

This thesis documents the development of a novel nonlinear controller for servo pneumatic actuators that give good reference tracking at low speed motion, where friction has strong effect to the system behaviors. The design of the nonlinear controller presented in this thesis is based on the formalism of Lyapunov stability theory. The controller is constructed through a dynamical adaptive backstepping-sliding mode control algorithm. The conventional Lyapunov-based control algorithm is often limited by the order of the dynamical system; however, the backstepping design concept allows the control algorithm to be extended to higher order dynamical systems. In addition, the friction is estimated on-line via the Lyapunov-based adaptive laws embedded in the controller; meanwhile, the sliding mode control provides high robustness to the system parameter uncertainties. The simulation results clearly demonstrating the improved system performance (i.e., fast response and the reduced tracking error) are presented. Finally, the integration of the controller with a Lyapunov-based pressure observer reduces the state feedback of the servo pneumatic actuator model to only the piston displacement.

"This thesis presents the development of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible pneumatic actuation test system regulated by piezoelectric valve for image guided robotic intervention. After comparing pneumatic, hydraulic and piezoelectric MRI-compatible actuation technologies, I present a piezoelectric valve regulated pneumatic actuation system consisted of PC, custom servo board driver, piezoelectric valves, sensors and pneumatic cylinder. This system was proposed to investigate the control schemes of a modular actuator, which provides fully MRI-compatible actuation; the initial goal is to control our MRI-compatible prostate biopsy robot, but the controller and system architecture are suited to a wide range of image guided surgical application. I present the mathematical modeling of the pressure regulating valve with time delay and the pneumatic cylinder. Three different sliding mode control (SMC) schemes are proposed to compare the system performance. Simulation results are presented to validate the control algorithm. Practical tests with parameters determined from simulation show that the system performance attained the goal. A novel MRI- compatible locking device for the pneumatic actuator was developed to provide safe lock function as the pneumatic actuator fully stopped."

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the development and control of electro-pneumatic actuators in a haptic teleoperation system. For controlling the mass flow rate of such actuators, two types of valve technology are sudied, i.e. solenoid (on/off) valve and proportional servovalve. The servovalves have found widespread applications in which high accuracy of force/position control are needed. They are however typically expensive due to the requirements of high-precision manufacturing. Therefore, the low-cost solenoid valves can be an alternative to the servovalves for achieving acceptable-performance pneumatic control. Generally, the highly nonlinear of the pneumatic actuator is heightened when it uses on/off solenoid valves instead of servovalves. In this case, precise control is challenging due to the discrete-input nature of the system. Our first objective is to demonstrate that it is possible to design an acceptable performance teleoperation system using master-slave robots that have pneumatic actuators equipped with only inexpensive on/off solenoid valves. To control efficiently the switching valves, several control approaches have been proposed, namely pulse width modulation (PWM), hybrid algorithm, and sliding mode control. A hybrid control theory, which includes more switching control modes, than PWM, allows to reduce the chattering problem and improve the energy consumption of the valves. Another strategy (i.e. a sliding mode control), which does not depend on the pneumatic model, is proposed. This control stratgy allows to perform not only the transparent analysis but also the stability analysis. In order to improve the dynamic performance and reduce the chattering problem in solenoid valve actuated pneumatic teleoperation systems, a five-mode sliding control scheme has been used, which can be considered as an extension of the three-mode sliding controller. Our study demonstrates that by increasing the number of possible control actions for the valves, we can reduce the valves' switching activities, hence improving the valve's life times at no cost to teleoperation transparency. The second objective of the thesis involves in implementing the proportional servovalves on the pneumatic teleoperation system. A comparison related to the teleoperation performance between an on/off valve and a servovalve is carried out. In experiments, it is observed that with the bilateral teleoperation architecture employing solenoid valves or servovalves, satisfactory force and position tracking between the master and the slave is obtained. In bilateral teleoperation control, force sensors are often omitted to save cost and to lessen weight and volume. Therefore, another aspect of our work consists in using observers for an estimation of operator and environment forces. Experimental results show that acceptable teleoperation transparency based on a simple Nicosia observer and a tangent linear control approach can be achieved.

This thesis deas with dynamic analysis of pneumatic actuator which is used as regulation mechanis of turbochargers with Variable Nozzle Turbine (VNT) technology. The first part of work is focused on experimental modeling which goal is obtaining Frequency Response Function on specify frequency range by Frequency Response Function Analysis – FRFA. Dominant vibrations of pneumatic actuator active parts is expected on this specify frequency range. Results of experimental modeling will be used for gaining input parameters for numerical computation as well. The second part deal with Pre-Stressed Modal Analysis and subsequently Harmonic analysis. Obtained results with numerical and experimental analysis will be compared. This part of diploma thesis is solved in programmatic environment ANSYS Workbench.

Thesis starts with brief overview of the present role of pneumatic actuators. Further research is carried out in modelling and control of pneumatic actuators. A basic overview of thermodynamic laws is presented. These laws are used to assemble a mathematical model of the pneumatic drive. Subsequently the identification of model parameters is shown. A controller is propřed using fuzzy PID algorithms. Results are compared with the conventional PID controller.

The first part of this thesis describes the current technologies of mechanical spin-ning. This is a ring, rotor and air-jet spinning. The product of spinning machines is yarn, the basic material for production textile. The next section describes in detail the current state of the node manipulator lifter tube on spinning machine TORNADO J20, by concern RIETER. It describes the structure, kinematics, duty cycle and requirements for the manipulator. The following optimization options which are described more options for solutions of individual functions of the manipulator, on the end is selected by multi-criteria analysis. The best solution that is elaborate in the next section. The author has created 3-D model optimized lifter tube. Positioning mechanism maintains the current kinematics, it is very similar. But gripper was designed as a passive, thus reduce the load positioning mechanism. Optimization was performed primarily to reduce overall production costs and to reduce weight manipulator. The conclusion is a comparison of current and new solutions. There are also eco-nomic recovery to.

Master thesis describes a single-purpose machine design, that is used for testing a basic features of proportional solenoid. The design is created in cooperation with company NUVIA a.s. and contains mechanical solution that is processed in respect with ergonomic requirements, safety and overall costs. Machine concept is affected by customer requirements, whose name, as well as real parameters of the product will not be published, because of non-disclosure agreement.